May 21, 2011 7:17pm EDTMay 20, 2011 1:17pm EDTShelley Duncan tells Greg Couch that Indians fans are among the best in the majors. And they deserve better than seeing every hot prospect given away. McNeal: Lessons in Missouri

CHICAGO -- This is about the best team in baseball. And it’s about LeBron James. It’s about hurt feelings and the emotional bond between sports teams and fans. Usually, fans will take just about anything, maybe throw in a little innocent heckling or wear a paper bag over their heads.

In Cleveland, sports fans are asking for a divorce. Or at least a trial separation. These have been some of the most loyal fans on earth, and I think maybe they’re defining a new loyalty, something that should serve as a warning to other teams in other sports and other cities.

Loyalty can’t be a one-way street.

“The fans in Cleveland are genuine fans,” Cleveland Indians designated hitter Shelley Duncan explained before Thursday night’s game in Chicago. “They cheer at the right times. They don’t need a scoreboard to tell them when to get loud.

“And the LeBron thing really had an effect. The fans were left with broken hearts. They just don’t have a good moment. They don’t have that moment yet that they need (to believe). I understand it.”

The moment Duncan is talking about is a championship, something that tells Cleveland fans, of any sport, that it just might work out after all. Think about this: The Indians have the best record in baseball. And they have the worst attendance.

Something special might be happening with this team, one of those moments you dream about. A group of young, inexperienced players expected to do absolutely nothing, is winning like crazy. Scoring runs. Making plays. A no-name pitching staff is getting everyone out. On Thursday, a smash off Cleveland’s pitcher went out to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who had been moving left. In one move, he changed directions, fell to the ball, grabbed it barehanded and flipped it behind his back to start a routine double play.

Routine. Hah! I mean this could be magic. Or, maybe it will never last.

In most cases, though, fans would see this as hope. Hope sells. In Cleveland, hope smells.

So many things have been taken away from Indians fans over the years, including two Cy Young Award winners. No wait, let me rephrase that: So many things have been given away, not taken, to save money. Each time, it cut fans deeply. In Chicago, fans still can’t get past the Cubs letting Greg Maddux go. That happened 19 years ago. In Cleveland, C.C. Sabathia was going to be a big part of the future. He was the hope.

Then he was gone. Cliff Lee? Hope. Gone.

See the pattern? With that baggage, this moment isn’t enough to draw 16,000 fans to Indians games. Believe in these guys? Cleveland believed in the Browns, but then John Elway killed them with The Drive. Hope. Gone. More belief, and then Earnest Byner fumbled. The team moved away.

The Indians had a great team in the mid-to-late `90s, with the stadium selling out every night. They couldn’t quite win it. Then, LeBron left for Miami, and maybe enough was enough. The Decision, The Drive, The Fumble. Hope. Gone.

“Each time, the fans left with broken hearts,” Duncan said. “It seemed their heart and soul was vulnerable.”

The Indians are 26-15 after Thursday’s 8-2 loss to the White Sox. They lost both games in a two-game series to Chicago. Manager Manny Acta said the team is .500 on the road now, and you can’t complain about that.

A quarter of the way into the season, the Indians have a five-game lead over Detroit. On post-game radio in Chicago, the host said the team Sox fans need to worry about is Detroit. Honestly, I still think the White Sox are the team to beat, even though they’re eight games back.

What happened with the Indians is that they traded off most of their expensive players and got prospects in return. They stunk for a while.

Now, those prospects are starting to grow up, fulfill potential. The question is this: Can they keep it up? They are second in the American League in runs scored, third in team ERA, first in fielding percentage. They also are young, and have a starting rotation no one has ever heard of. Their payroll is under $50 million, one of the lowest in baseball.

“The key of what has been done here is keeping the same guys together for a while,” Acta said. “A lot of these guys played together in the minor leagues. They won a championship in Triple-A. A couple years ago, they won a championship in Double-A. So what they’re doing here has been done in the past, and they’ve gotten results.”

They have had some injuries. On Wednesday, Travis Hafner took one swing in batting practice and then couldn’t go on. The Indians aren’t sure what’s wrong. He’ll have an MRI today. Travis Buck has turf toe. Grady Sizemore is on the disabled list. They don’t have enough depth for this.

Other than injuries, though, they haven’t had any of the other regular adversity that comes along in a long season. Will these young guys know how to deal with those things when they do come up?

Meanwhile, guess which city had the highest TV ratings for Game 1 of the Chicago-Miami series in the NBA, after Chicago and Miami. Yep, Cleveland is still watching LeBron. Of course, watching and cheering are not the same thing.

Well, the Indians’ attendance problem isn’t just LeBron, of course. The economy has hit Northeast Ohio even harder than most places. Also, the Indians simply haven’t been good for long.

USA Today reported that local TV ratings in Cleveland are up 68 percent for the Indians over last year. So maybe fans are thinking about coming back. On Friday of last week, the Indians loaded up with promotions and freebies and fireworks, and drew 34,000 people. Duncan said the energy from the fans, and willingness to commit are something the players were feeding on.

“We dug down deep," he said. “We needed that win … for them.”

Duncan said it’s unfair to describe Indians fans as fair-weather followers. In fact, he said, if a team is bad, the fans shouldn’t come, shouldn’t send that endorsement to a team owner. These Indians have an unusual understanding of their fans.